By FEAR CHURCHWELL – Staff Writer
American Sniper portrays a generally realistic setting of the war in Iraq and the war on terror. However, American Sniper does contain some moments of unrealistic plot developments and some inconsistencies to Chris Kyle’s account of his four tours in Iraq.
American Sniper is a fast-paced movie following former Navy SEAL Chris Kyle (Bradley Cooper) serving from 1999-2009 and serving four tours in Iraq. Although the main focus is his tours in Iraq, the movie goes from his childhood all the way to the day of his death on February 2, 2013.
Chris Kyle is a sniper for the Navy SEALs and is assigned to cover United States Marines that go from house to house tracking down various wanted Al Qaeda officials. The story takes place in the aftermath of 9/11.
Cooper, who gained 40 pounds in muscle to play Kyle as he flawlessly portrays an individual suffering from a slow mental deterioration aggravated by the war. Kyle slowly becomes more and more affected by the violence he experiences during the war, and the longer he serves in Iraq, the more Kyle becomes distant from his family and the more he seems to have trouble controlling his anger.
Directed by Clint Eastwood, American Sniper does not bring the average shoot-em up styled movie, but a nail-biter. It compares best to The Hurt Locker (2008) because it gives a realistic portrayal of the modern War on Terror, not just Bruce Willis blowing up buildings and killing dozens of men over the course of 90 minutes.
However, American Sniper has one major fatal flaw: it has a main antagonist. Instead of keeping this about Kyle and the struggles of war from his point of view, the writers incorporate “The Butcher” (Mido Hamada), an Iraqi sharpshooting sniper, who only appeared in one paragraph of Kyle’s novel, but had a very prominent role in the movie by appearing multiple times in the movie and killing a number of men associated with Chris Kyle.
Despite having some elements that do not fit the movie’s general style, American Sniper gives viewers a good view of the horrors of the war in Iraq and the very difficult situations and responsibilities placed upon upon Navy SEALs like Kyle during combat.
